Despite the controversy
springing from a misinterpretation of “The Wheat Among the Tares”, and despite
the fact that people purport that the righteous cannot be separated from
the wicked in the Church, Paul said, speaking to the Church, “put away
from among yourselves that wicked person” (1 Cor. 5:13). It can’t get
any clearer, can it? No parabolic language means no mystery; the point is
plainly put and should be understood by all! Certainly, this is why Jesus
Christ said, “the field is the World” (Matt. 13:38). Notice that He did not
say, as many wrongly assume: “the field is the Church”. Yet, the masses, being
wise in our own conceits, have learned to explain away the plainly
spoken truth of God’s word by exploiting parabolic passages which are
intentionally shrouded with mystery.

From the very beginning of 1
Corinthians Ch. 5, Paul is jealous over the marred reputation of the Church.
Why? He understood the
prerogative for and performance of Church Purity, that
the Church and the World are collectively distinct insomuch that they represent
two contradictory Kingdoms. This being the case, they exist to represent two
different reputations in the earth – two different peoples. The one, God’s
people, which is the Church, have a new relationship to God via a severed
relationship to sin. The other, the Devil’s people, which is the World, have no
relationship with God via an un-severed relationship to sin. If this wasn’t the
case in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, why were the
following commands and affirmations given to and made on behalf of the Church?

The phraseological parallelism
is undeniable. Did the Church of the OT and NT practice Church Purity in
contradiction to the popular interpretation of “The Wheat and the Tares”? Yes.
Were the wicked separated from the righteous in the Church? Yes! This much and
more was already noted, covered, and proven in Chapter #5 of Volume I, called,
“The
Prerogative for & Performance of Church Purity”; I say
this for those of you who are not reading the Chapters in order. Also, in
correlation with the content of the aforementioned hyperlink, further
exhaustiveness can be found in Chapter #16 of Volume III in a section called, “The
Kingdom of God”. Very specifically, these two sections provide
doctrinal justification for why Paul’s meekness and holyfear
did drive him to render jealous rebukes to the Church of Corinth for the
purpose of reviving the practice of Church Purity (2 Cor. 11:2) – the
present-tense separation of “the Wheat” from “the Tares” in the Church, so to
speak! In a profoundly significant way, Church History exemplifies the demise
of “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:6). Can you recollect
some examples of this?

The Church is to be entirely clean
and perfected
in holiness (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1). The Doctrinal Rule is, congregational separation.
The Doctrinal Rule is, an unleavened Lump (1 Cor. 5:6-8), a Lamp whose persons
are all in the
Light (1 Jn. 1:3-7, 2 Cor. 6:14, Eph. 5:7-17, Rev. 1:20), a Sacrifice whose
entire body is of unblemished members (Rom. 12:1-2, 15:16-19, Eph. 5:26-27,
Jas. 1:26-27), a Royal
Priesthood which employs every priest to abide by the codes
of separation which cannot and must not be defied, a Temple
whose stones are elect and precious people who are, therefore, purged from the
desecrating mixture of wood, hay, stubble, and earth (2 Tim. 2:19-22, 1 Cor.
3:10-20), a collection of spiritually healthy people who make up one Body
that is free from all offenders, heathen men, and publicans (Matt. 18:8-9; see
also curse #3, “Bodily Sickness”, which is a part of the
NT curses of God), and, finally, but not exhaustively, the Church is a
collection of holy people who make up one glorious and beautiful Bride,
which means that they / She is without blemish, spot, wrinkle, or any such
thing (Eph. 5:26-27, Rev. 19:7, 2 Cor. 11:2). In summary, those who are gathered
in the Church assembly must be separatedfrom all other peoples (unconverted or backslidden). Thousands
of pages of scripture stand as one unified testimony of this fact, if only we
have ears to hear it! My reader, will you study the scriptural argument
laid-forth in those hyperlinks (to name a few) before you succumb to a popular
opinion of man in defiance of the scriptures?

Moving on from these points,
there’s more to address: specific angles of content which are relevant and yet
unaddressed in other Chapters. Paul spoke of judgment to the accomplishment of
separation in 1 Corinthians Ch. 5 (verses 11-13), but he also spoke of an
existing inseparability (verses 9-10). To understand the difference between the
two scenarios – disallowed unity and allowable inseparability –
one must come to understand the significance of the peoples, places, and
purposes in reference. The situation at hand is one of companionship –
to be in company or not to be in company, depending on if the circumstances
pertain to the World or the Church.

Two distinct peoples, the
heathen and the saints, make up the populations of two different spiritual
entities: the World and the Church. Accordingly, separation
occurs. Yet, in differing senses throughout the progressive stages of
redemption, inseparability does also exist. Understandably so, during the
progressive glories of redemption until the Consummation and fullness of all
things, the allowable inseparability and mandated separation changes in its
manifestations. In simple terms, the way the Church is “in the world and not of
the World” changes depending on what stage of redemption is at work prior to
the New Heaven and New Earth. The stages of redemption include: The Old
Testament, the Gentile Church Age of the NT (1st Advent), the Millennial
Reign of Christ (2nd Advent & 1st Resurrection), and
the New Heaven and New Earth (2nd Advent & 2nd
Resurrection).

In the Gentile Church Age of the
New Testament, there is a divine allowance for inseparability and a divine mandate
for separation according to 1 Corinthians
5:9-13, which means: The Church is forced, as long as She is in the world, to
gather with the World in its assemblies and societies for the purpose of
morally neutral engagements, but the World is forbidden to gather with the
Church in its assemblies, fellowship, and ministries for the purpose of morally
righteous engagements. This means, in other words, the Church is forced to “keep
company” with the peoples who are “of this world” (wicked persons) in the
engagement of earthly and secular affairs, but the World is not allowed to “keepcompany” with the peoples of the Church in the engagement of heavenly
and holy affairs. Distinction is herein distinguishable because the peoples
have been purposefully separated one from the another. However, inseparable
mixing in the secular arena is permissible as long as the Devil is allowed by
God to rule as “the god of this world”, hence, “the whole world lieth in
wickedness” (2 Cor. 4:4, 1 Jn. 5:19). Thus, when the Lord Jesus will take full
Kingship and Dominion over the earth in its entirety, legally and actually, the
exercise of separation which existed within the physical Land of Israel in the
Old Testament will once again exist during the Millennial Reign of Christ, and,
furthermore, when this millennia is over and the legal and actual Dominion of
Christ comes to fruition in a greater glory, the Dominion exercised within the
borders of the Land of Israel will break-free from its transient limitation so
as to envelope the whole world! Hence, sinners will be everlastingly expunged
from the World as the saints do, thereby, inherit the earth! Speaking of this
final inheritance to be accomplished at Final Redemption, the psalmist said,
“evildoers shall be cut off: but those
that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth” (Ps. 37:9). This is the
everlasting blessedness of the blessed according to Jesus Christ, who said,
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5).